Sincerely, Susie Weksler
by SoftSilverShadows
Summary: These painful memories burn our minds and we will try to forget them, but believe me when I say that you will never forget. I don't think any of us survivors will. The torture we have been through cannot simply be forgotten. Oneshot.


**Author's Note: Hey guys! This is my first official post on this site, so please review but don't be too harsh. Anyway, this is a fictional letter to a fictional friend of Susie Weksler's that I wrote for a school assignment. The book I based this off of was Thanks to My Mother by Schoschana Rabinovici, which is an amazing Holocaust story about family, love, and never giving up. I definitely recommend it. Please share your thoughts at the end. **

Sincerely, Susie Weksler

By SoftSilverShadows

November 11, 1945

Dear Ruth,

Oh, Ruth! It has certainly been a while. It is I, your good friend from Vilnius, Susie Weksler! The years have been hard and I feel as if I will never be the same ever again. After all, one does not go through the Holocaust unscathed. I think that all those who survived, including you, will be changed in one way or another. Whether we have grown stronger or grown weaker, we have somehow become different from what we once were. But even though I may not be the same Susie Weksler you remember from four years ago, I am just happy that I made it out alive and well, and so did you.

I had survived three concentration camps and it was not pleasant. I was constantly hungry and always felt as if I were about to collapse. The food was simply bread and some thin soup, but back then, you learned that you couldn't be picky with your food. You either ate or starved.

Roll call took hours and my legs stung in the cold and burned in the heat. We would all just stand there and hope to not be the unsuspecting victim of a Nazi officer. Blitz maidens, female SS officers, often patrolled the camps, but just because they were female, did not mean they were any less brutal towards us. I was often on the receiving end of a gun butt or whip, and after some time, my body seemed to learn to numb itself from the attacks.

I spent most of my days working at a battery factory, dismantling and reconstructing batteries. It was hard work. It was one of the easiest jobs, despite the fact that the old batteries we had to take apart had a thick yellow goop that burned the hands of the workers. Working at the battery factory was also very dirty. I always came back to the ghetto covered head to toe in black. It was hard to cleanse my body of the black without soap, but in the end, it all came off.

Besides the concentration camps, I also lived through a death march. It was during the winter so it was even more painful to endure and go through, but in the end, I made it out alive. I had marched for hours on end with my fellow prisoners and was always about to fall down, but every time I was about to collapse, weak yet strong arms held me up and helped me push forward and keep moving.

Of course, I didn't survive all by myself. I had my mother, Raja, help me make it out. It was her courage and strength that kept me going. I probably would not be writing this letter and you would not be reading it if it weren't for my mother's inner strength. My mother has helped me in so many ways. She had carried me hidden in a backpack, disguised me, and even sacrificed her valuables for my cause. I don't think that anyone would have had the strength to do what she did; to keep believing like she did.

And through this whole experience, I learned a few things. In the beginning of the war, I realized that sacrifices have to be made for a bigger cause. I remember when my grandfather had to leave behind all his pictures and treasures for the ghetto because of an order from the Nazis. Though I was young and understood little, I still saw how painful it was to simply walk away from his memories, his accomplishments; but in the end, he lived and that was the reward for his hard sacrifices.

But then again, sometimes you have to let greed control you a bit. During those merciless years, I realized that I could no longer watch out for others. I could no longer help others. I finally understood that I was in a situation where if I try to help others, I would only be the loser in the end. I was in a situation where I could only fend for myself and no one else because if I did, I would have lost so much. It was also during those painful years that I realized that sometimes, it was okay to be selfish if your life depended on it.

However, the most important lesson I learned during my experience was to never give up. I realized that no matter how much it hurts, how much it pains, you can't give up. When my mother had fallen ill in one of the camps, I was left to fend for myself, a child left on the border of life and death. I had almost given up before my mother talked some sense into me. She told me that I had to never give up. I had to keep hoping that savior will come and some day, light will shine in this dark, dark world. After all, if I gave up then, all my suffering and pain before would've been wasted.

So what about you, Ruth? What has happened these past few years? But you don't have to tell me. It's okay. I understand. These painful memories burn our minds and we will try to forget them, but believe me when I say that you will never forget. I don't think any of us survivors will. The torture we have been through cannot simply be forgotten.

It has been quite a while, good friend. Perhaps you could visit my mother, uncle, and I in Vilnius some time. We have returned and unfortunately, we three are the only ones left of my family. But even though most of my loved ones are gone, I am still able to find joy in my new life after the war and I hope you can too.

Sincerely,

Your Friend,

Susie Weksler


End file.
